Epidemiology of eating disorders in Latin America: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

2016

Purpose of reviewEating disorders are currently not considered to be limited to Western culture. We systematically reviewed the existing literature on the prevalence of eating disorders in Latin America.Recent findingsOf 1583 records screened, 17 studies from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela were included in the analysis. Most studies reported point-prevalence rates and only three studies provided lifetime and 12-month prevalence rates. We found a mean point-prevalence rate of 0.1% for anorexia nervosa, 1.16% for bulimia nervosa, and 3.53% for binge-eating disorder (BED) in the general population. Heterogeneity for bulimia nervosa and BED was large. This meta-analys…